10,000 Voices for Justice

To:  US Congress

Dear Members of the United States Congress,

It is now more than four years since the first detainees were transferred to the detention facility at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Detainees in Guantánamo Bay are held in prolonged indefinite detention, which violates a fundamental legal principle: that anyone detained has the right to be promptly brought before an independent judicial officer to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. The President of the United States Mr. George W. Bush has repeatedly asserted that the USA strives to “defend and extend a vision of human dignity” and “uphold the rule of law”. For the detainees at Guantánamo Bay these words ring hollow.

I call on you to close the detention facility and to ensure that all those held in Guantánamo are immediately released if they are not to be charged and brought to trial in line with standards of fairness. The military commissions violate several provisions of international treaties to which the USA is a state party and cannot provide fair trials in line with international standards They are fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned immediately.

Many detainees in Guantánamo come from countries which the US government itself has condemned for human rights violations. I therefore call on you to ensure that the USA will not transfer them to a country where they may face further human rights violations.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The 10,000 Voices for Justice Petition to US Congress was created by and written by Amnesty International Bahrain (gtmocampaign@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.